Bushey pleads no contest in plea deal

PETER REBHAHN/STAR-TIMES

Alan Bushey (left) and his attorney, Thomas Steinman, arrive at a Juneau County courtroom for a plea hearing Feb. 5. Bushey pleaded no contest to the crime of hiding a corpse.

By Peter Rebhahn, Star-Times

Alan Bushey, the Necedah religious leader charged last May with telling a follower to hide the corpse of a church member in her home, pleaded no contest in a Juneau County courtroom on Thursday.

Bushey will be sentenced May 5. The felony is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and fines of $25,000. The court also reduced his bail to 20 percent of the current $50,000, or $10,000 cash.

The other charges against Bushey — two counts of causing mental harm to a child and two counts of theft related to the dead woman's bank accounts — were dismissed in a previously announced plea deal with prosecutors.

Those counts, however, will be considered at sentencing, according to the agreement.

Authorities charged that Bushey instructed Tammy Lewis to hide the body of 90-year-old Alvina Middlesworth so they could collect her Social Security checks.

Lewis, who entered into a plea deal of her own in November, left the body for more than two months on the toilet of a home in Necedah she shared with her two children, ages 12 and 15.

Bushey told the family that Middlesworth could be returned to life by prayer, according to the complaint.

Bushey declined to answer questions after Thursday's hearing. Thomas Steinman, his lawyer, also declined to comment.

Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth declined to comment in advance of the May sentencing, citing the sensitive nature of the case.

Since the charges were filed, Bushey has been evicted from the Necedah home/church where he lived and all of the church's property, including the building — a house converted to a small church — and Bushey's vestments were auctioned. By most accounts, there were fewer than a dozen church members.